Page 10 of Boss with Benefits

I collapsed onto the sofa, fuming. Who knew Derrick couldn’t take a damn joke.

As I stewed in my frustration, Lexi walked in. I’d met her a few times when Eva worked here. “You alright?”

“Derrick can be a real dick,” I blurted out.

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Oh shit. Did something happen?”

“I was joking with him about his sex life, and he blew up at me,” I admitted, crossing my arms.

“Ah,” Lexi said, but something in her facial expression made me think she knew more than she was letting on.

“Hey, wanna grab a drink?” I asked, eager to get out of the office. It was nearly seven anyway. “There’s a dive bar around the corner that Eva and I used to go to.”

Lexi smiled. “Sure. I just finished my last interview for the day.”

* * *

We endedup in the dimly lit dive bar, the kind of place with torn red-leather booths and decades of stories soaked into the walls. The bar’s atmosphere was cozy yet grungy, the low hum of conversations blending with the distant sound of clinking glasses.

Lexi stirred her creamy green cocktail, thinking. “I envy people like you,” she said.

I tilted my head, curious. “How do you mean?”

“Your carefree I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude,” she said.

I laughed, leaning back in the booth. “Oh, I get that from my mom. She’s a badass. Her parents immigrated from India when they were twenty. My granddad went to med school, and my grandmother took care of the house and eventually my mom. Very typical of that generation of Indian migrants.”

Lexi’s face crinkled in confusion, and I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Are you confused because I’m the strangest-looking Indian you’ve met?”

My features were a mix of Chinese and Caucasian characteristics. Straight black hair (when it wasn’t dyed), almond-shaped eyes that narrowed slightly at the corners but with full eyelids, ivory skin, high cheekbones, a narrower nose with a higher bridge, and full lips.

Lexi winced. “Oh, shit. Sorry. I have the worst poker face.”

“People are always confused. I don’t blame them. I’d be confused too.” I smiled, letting the moment pass. “My biological parents were mixed race, White and Chinese. I’m just a muddle of gene pools.”

“How old were you when you were adopted?” Lexi asked, trying to piece it together.

“When I was a baby,” I said, shrugging. “My mom was single and a workaholic and wasn’t sure she’d ever meet someone, and she really wanted a child. She’s this amazing neonatal ICU doctor, and I guess it was fate, because one day a baby was left in her NICU, and she fell in love. And that baby was me.”

“That’s such a beautiful story,” Lexi said softly.

“Anyway,” I said, feeling a little lighter. “Enough about me. How about we take a shot and forget all about work?”

“Now you’re talking!” Lexi grinned, raising her glass, and we clinked.

I liked Lexi, but I also had ulterior motives for inviting her out for drinks. Like finding out why the hell Derrick freaked out earlier. I had a feeling Lexi knew something. She had been very cryptic when I mentioned my joke about his sex life.

The last time I had drinks with her, she had gotten very chatty, so I was hoping I could divine out of her what she knew about Derrick.

Because he was definitely keeping something secret.

6

RACHEL

“Tell me more about how your mom came to adopt you,” Lexi said, throwing back the tequila shot we had ordered. “If you don’t mind.”

Okay, so I was gonna have to chat a bit more before I could turn the conversation back to Derrick, it seemed. It might not have been a bad thing. If I was going to be working at Dreamary, it would be nice to have a friend there.

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